So please answer them. You can comment here on the blog (anonymous, if you'd like). You can comment on the Facebook link or send me a Facebook message. Or you can e-mail me at dru-lynng@tbcphoenix.org.
First, read this:
Ephesians 5:24
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Question 1: What are your first thoughts when you read this verse?
Question 2: What do you think God thinks about submission?
Question 3: What's your progress on applying this verse to your life? (think it's a good idea, but hesitant; don't like the idea, don't do it; etc.)
Thanks, ladies!!! I will post my heartfelt answers here tomorrow : )
1. Old fashioned thinking
ReplyDelete2. It is necessary at times; it has it's place
3. don't like the idea
When I look at this verse I am so blessed to see the walk by "seeing couples" who have overcome obstacles, trials, adversities in their married life and have withstood the trials that life has thrown to them and to see them loving each other, submitting to each other's strengths and weaknesses. There are so many examples of this kind of marriage - anyone who has been married 20 years or more can share their horrors. Your opportunity is to seek them out and ask Why, How, what did you do to make your marriage strong in God's sight in spite of all the junk ! If you have parents and grandparents that are in this category - YOU ARE TRULY BLESSED ! ! ! !
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: My first thought is "as the church submits to Christ"...think about that part first, and the rest isn't so hard to swallow. The church is in a constant process of submission, isn't it? Hasn't our self-serving thinking just about killed everything good that a seeker could find in a church? We all know the complaints...the solution is submission to Christ. What Jesus said, still stands...He doesn't change; therefore we can't delete what we don't like. In a marriage, the Bible is clear that it is a matter of submission for both the wife and the husband...love and honor each other, set aside our own viewpoint (lay down our life) for the sake of love. It is definitely a process, and we won't ever get it right all the time. When we seek to honor the Lord as our number one mission, He gives us all we need to work this out in our marriage...
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2. What I think that God thinks about submission is this...The Lord our God is a God of order. I believe that for both male and female the number one thing should be the 1st Commandment. If we can get this one thing under our belt the rest will follow naturally...the rest of the commandments and the rest of the business of submission. The opposite of order is chaos...so I think that God is extremely serious about submission, and because He loves us, He intends good for us. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future...so if we don't take the concept of submission seriously, how can we avoid chaos? How can we get under His feathers and know how much He loves us if we don't first submit... and come in out of the cold?
Question 3. How am I doing? The whole thing is rooted in trust, you see, so can we submit to what we don't trust? Not me. I have a story, and it is about the little me who was lost, but has now been found...I was still very lost and self-centered well into the 5th year of this marriage, but God had plans for me, and I became broken into smithereens....so that He could remake me into the me that I really am, the me that He made me to be. I am into my 26th year of this marriage now, and it is good. Deciding to trust God and submit my mind to His Holy Word is how it all got better...I had very little to do with any of it...I just submitted to the best of my ability, one day after another....all glory be unto Him.
Thanks for asking!!!
1. We all have to submit to someone.
ReplyDelete2. It is an important part of a growing & loving relationship.
3. Trying to commit to it daily.
1. Difficult. Constant struggle. I was very independent as a single woman, and it's been difficult to yield to someone else. In some areas I succeed, but others I just want my own way...: ) I have to remind myself constantly about the verse in which husbands are instructed to love their wives the way Christ loved the church. They're not getting off scot-free! LOL.
ReplyDelete2.Obviously, everything in Scripture is God-breathed, so this is what he wants for us. He does make it clear that submission is NOT slavery or becoming a doormat.
3. I know it's correct and Biblical, but as a sinner I struggle with it daily. I am very opinionated in a lot of areas....and frankly, there are times when I KNOW I am right about something and I just need to express it. I'm not sure where to draw the line between submission and still having an OPINION and a SAY in life.